Past Me, Future You (USUK)
by NekotaliaTomato
Summary: Alfred could tell something was wrong with Arthur. With the idea of Arthur's mysterious high school past in mind, he goes back in time to save his friend. However, he starts to learn things he'd rather not know. Not only about Arthur, but about himself as well. Has he done more harm than good? Maybe he should've stayed home... But by now it's far too late.
1. Chapter One

Hey this is my first published Hetalia fanfic! (Ive only ever published one thing before but we don't talk about that :/ ) Anyway I've been writing a bunch of stuff so I'm just going to put all of it on this website.

So I might have changed Alfred's personality a little (bit of a lot). The way I did it he's more mature now. He still says he's the hero though. He will always be the hero.

For those of you who are new, or don't care, or still getting the human names confused I'll put them here. If there are any new characters I'll put them at the top of the chapter.

Alfred - America

Arthur - England

Daniel - Male! Hungary

Elizabeta - Hungary

Vladimir - Romania

Lukas - Norway

I hope the spacing is right for you but I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing yet so if it's messed up I'm very sorry.

CHAPTER ONE

Alfred's POV

I smiled as I watched Arthur intently read a book. He looked pretty frustrated, like the main character was being a jerk or something.

I wasn't sure why it was bothering me, but I hadn't been in high school with Arthur, and he never talked about it. Maybe it was just something I did, but I talked about high school all of the time.

Maybe it was just my friends, but they did too. Everyone except for Arthur. And recently, it had been all I could think about.

"Arthur?"

"Yes?" he mumbled back, not looking up.

"What was high school like for you?" I said, without really thinking first.

"I-it was school. N-nothing more, nothing less."

He got up and walked away, not even bothering to mark his place in his book. It wasn't typical of him to just leave without politely saying goodbye. At least he could put the book back in its proper place, wherever he had decided that may be.

I knew what I should do, but I also knew what I wanted to do. And besides, in the long run what I wanted to do might be better for Arthur.

I wasn't sure what my actions should be. The pages of his book started to turn. I sighed, fishing an old piece of paper put of my pocket and put it in between the right pages.

Being the hero I was, I closed the book and followed Arthur. I had hesitated long enough that I didn't see him anywhere, but it was a small apartment and he probably just went to his room. As I got to the end of the hallway I stopped. Was this really the right thing to do?

I was raising my hand to knock, when I thought of something. Arthur was pretty stubborn, and it wasn't like anything I could say would make him talk. But there was another way. I felt bad to do it, but something told me I had to.

I knocked on the door.

"What do you want?"

I took that as permission to come in. Arthur's room was as organized as it gets. It didn't surprise me, because if I expected that from anyone, it was Arthur.

He was laying on his bed staring up at the ceiling, tapping some rhythm on the mattress with one of his hands. His other hand rested on his stomach and a small square decorative pillow with his flag on it supported his head.

"So, what did you want?"

"Uh, well, um, I have to visit one of my friends but he left the Academy for Thanksgiving break. So I'll be in Romania for who knows how long so just.. Yeah don't die or set the apartment complex on fire with your scones or anything..."

"Good luck Alfred. You'll need it." Arthur sitting up and smiling just a tad. Suddenly I realized how important it was I talk to Vladimir. Arthur rarely smiled. It must have been related to his past.

I packed a few things just in case, and we said our goodbyes and off I went to the "airport." I wasn't sure why I told Arthur I could be gone a long time. I just did.

I made my way over to where Vladimir lived with his roommate, and cousin, Daniel Héderváry. It was surprising how well the two of them got along while Daniel's sister, Elizabeta, absolutely despised Vladimir.

I walked up and tried the door handle, suspecting that it had been left unlocked. I had been right, and I walked into the slightly chaotic apartment inhabited by the two. Vladimir's strange decorations made the entrance feel dark and not very welcoming. I was used to it. I walked into the living room, where Daniel was sitting on a gray armchair reading a book.

"Well, hello Alfred!" Daniel said. "I wasn't expecting you!"

" I wasn't expecting to come, " I laughed. " Have you seen Vladimir? "

" Yeah he just got back from wherever he went. He's in his room. "

I thanked Daniel and left him to his reading. I walked through the kitchen, to the part of the apartment which led to the hallway where Vladimir's bedroom was. I didn't bother to knock. Vladimir was rearranging things on a shelf. He had stacks of stuff scattered here and there, and one too many jars of strange potions for my liking. The walls were decorated with charts that must be explaining some form of magic.

It's a known fact at Hetalia Academy that none of us are normal. Some, like Vladimir, were magicians. We had a strange variation of traits that made it next to impossible to send us to college anywhere else.

Vladimir turned around and saw me. He was dressed in black, white, and red, but then again when wasn't he? A white and red striped shirt with black jeans and a black jacket. It was good to know he was still sane. He wasn't wearing neon green, he was fine.

We all questioned his sanity the day he wore neon green. Every single one of us, with the possible exception of Daniel.

"Hey Alfred. What brings you here?"

"Well, as much as I would like to have a normal conversation, I need a little work done with magic.

"That boy, your roommate. Last I checked he was as much a magician as I. "

"He won't help me. As a matter of fact, he's the entire reason I'm here. "

Vladimir raised a thin eyebrow and focused his attention on me. After I explained the entire story to him there was a scary glint in his eye. He gave me wide smile, showing his fang-like teeth.

Vladimir didn't stop to judge my reason. He was accepting, and he was also my friend. He would help me, even if my idea was crazy. The other magician at the Academy, Lukas Bondevik, wasn't the most welcoming person you could meet, so I was glad Vladimir was willing to help and I didn't have to ask Lukas.

As he rushed around gathering stuff from those creepy jars and mixing them together, he explained his plan.

I was supposed to change history. He was going to send me into Arthur's past. Anything I did would effect the future Arthur, the one that I knew. It was a giant responsibility. I'm not the most responsible of people, but I was a hero. I could do this. As he gave me a glass of dark liquid, he explained that it would give me one weeks time in the past. He gave me two other containers. He explained that the red one would bring me back to the present before the original potion wore off. The black liquid, like the one I was about to drink, would give me an additional week.

I said goodbye to Vladimir, and took a deep breath. I could do this. This was my chance to save Arthur. I couldn't explain why, but my heart rate was increased. It wasn't from the fact I was about to go back in time, I was sure of that. I thought of Arthur, and how rare it was for him to smile. He needed to do that more often. I tipped my head back and swallowed. The liquid felt smooth and cold as I went down my throat.

A few seconds later everything started to spin. I looked down and saw that I was fading, slowly becoming transparent. This me wouldn't exist anymore, I would be somewhere else. I remembered how Arthur had given me a rare smile just earlier today. I picked out the details of his face. His blonde hair that couldn't be tamed, his bright green eyes that always look annoyed, his giant caterpillar eyebrows. I wondered if his eyebrows were going to be that bushy in the past. It was the last thought in my head before the world dropped away and I was surrounded by darkness.

I might wait a little while just so there are at least a few people interested when I add another chapter :) hope you'll keep reading. I know it's a little early for this but if you have any suggestions I'm totally open to constructive criticism

Hetalia isn't mine! (if it would all my ships would be so much more real...)


	2. Chapter Two

By the way I left all my weird little time skips because why not lol

Alfred's POV

I started to open my eyes, but I changed my mind. It was too bright. I wasn't sure where I was. I was a hero, but I was a tired hero. The potion really took it a lot out of me.

Eventually I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I had been laying on a park bench. I wasn't sure where I was but I saw a path and I followed it. The trees that lined the path were starting to change from their summer green, and the leaves lit the sky on fire. The grass was an emerald green. Above the trees I could just barely see a gray sky, and a chilly wind stirred everything a little.

Luckily I was wearing my bomber jacket. There wasn't anyone around, so I had no choice but to keep walking.

My head had cleared by the time the path opened up to a small town. I looked around at where I was, neighborhood businesses dotting the single street. It was a cute little place, so I turned off the path down the road. I checked my pockets to find a credit card under Allen Jones, my father's name. There was also a small, folded piece of paper. On it was an address. I assumed it was Arthur's.

Spotting a small restaurant, I crossed the street. My stomach was rumbling. I checked my watch and saw that it was 6:03. How long had I been here? I hadn't checked the time when I was at Vladimir's, but I got out of class early on Thursdays so it must have been around 3:00. Surely it didn't take that long to travel back? Was I unconscious for a while? Was it even a Thursday? Whatever, it didn't matter.

The restaurant smelled amazing. I sat down, and not long after a pretty waitress came over. She gave me some coffee and a smile, and I ordered myself a hamburger.

I wasn't sure how long I would be here before finding Arthur. The address meant nothing to me, because I had no idea how to find it. Eventually my food came, and I began my first meal in this foreign territory.

*time skip brought to you by Iggy's tea*

It had been three days. I had wandered around enough to find the school. It was a start. I went in the office.

After a bit of disagreement with the secretary, I walked out with papers for my parents to sign.

I would be forging those signatures.

I used what I knew about Arthur to try to take some of the same classes as him.

With the signatures of Allie and Allen Jones on the bottom I leaned back on the bench I was sitting on. I could do this.

*time skip because Roma has tomatoes*

I must have fallen asleep because I woke up before dawn not knowing where I was. Looking around, I remembered. It was the park bench in the town Arthur had lived in.

As I went to check my schedule, I realized I was wearing a different shirt. It must have been Vladimir's magic. That guy was smarter and more powerful than people at the Academy gave him credit for.

I had to be at the school at 6:30 for classes. If I came in at 6:15 I would have time to deal with the secretary. Hopefully I remembered the way.

After wandering around for about an hour I finally found the school. I checked my watch again. It was 5:58. I was early.

The secretary was nice, she explained a little bit about the school and some general things I should know.

At 6:07 I said thank you and left to find my way around. There were a few people dotting the hallways.

I found and opened my locker. A problem I hadn't realized existed had been fixed. The locker was full of my supplies. The textbooks the secretary had given me had spots. A magnet held a piece of paper to the inside of the locker door.

I opened it. It was a letter.

HI Alfred!

It's me, Vladimir. I forgot to mention that I can still help you from where I am. When you sleep I can somehow give you stuff. I can't explain exactly how, and even if I could you wouldn't understand. There isn't a way for you to respond, but I can kind of see what you're doing. If you look at the bottom of your locker you'll find a small journal. I recommend you write everything down at the end of every day. Maybe you'll feel less crazy that way. Be careful, everything you do there will affect Arthur. I'll keep an eye on him for you. I wish you the best of luck.

\- Vladimir

He definitely was smarter than we gave him credit for.

I made my way through first and second period, finally finding Arthur in third. It wasn't anything special, it was a world history class, just like back at Hetalia Academy, and he was early, sitting directly in the middle of the room. I sat on his left, not really looking at him. He did look over at me, though.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Alfred Jones, and who are you?" Of course, I already knew the answer but I couldn't just say that.

"Arthur Kirkland." He turned back to the front in an attempt to end the conversation. I wasn't about to let that happen.

"Since I have no idea what I'm doing would you allow me to follow you everywhere?" I asked, as innocent as I possibly could.

"Sure," he said roughly, and I got the impression he wasn't really listening to me.

I studied him closely. He had on a white tee shirt and black jeans. A red and black flannel long-sleeve shirt covered the tee shirt. He had on gray Vans and his hair looked slightly spiked and less cared for. This definitely wasn't the Arthur Kirkland gentleman that I knew.

It was so exciting.

*time skip by Matt's maple syrup*

I had followed Arthur to every class I could. I had third through fifth with him, then lunch. This is when everything hit the fan.

"This is where I leave you, " he said, turning to face me.

"What? Why?"

"I eat lunch alone. I'll see you later."

" But I'm your friend!" I protested, not ready to give up yet.

"I never said that. I agreed to put up with you. The lunch room is in the other direction." He turned and walked off, his steps swaying. He was still rough around the edges, but in a different way. What could have happened to change him?

I wanted to go after him. I knew I couldn't. That was the number one way to drive him away. I knew Arthur. If he wanted to know you, he would. If he didn't, give up. Something told me I could get to him. It would just take time.

I shook my head and turned to find the lunchroom.

Once there I looked around, trying to find where to sit. Not far away was Honda Kiku, a quiet Japanese boy that so far I had every class with. Who was also one of my best friends in the future.

"Kiku!" I yelled.

It was surprising how many people who I knew from Hetalia Academy went here for high school. They all sat at a long table. Kiku sat on the end and there was an empty seat next to him. I walked over and sat down.

*another time skip because cats*

The next day was pretty much the same, and the day after that, all the way to Friday. So far I hadn't managed to get through to Arthur. I knew it would take time, but I wasn't a naturally patient person. My goal for the next week was to speed it up a bit. I sat on my park bench, ready for whatever this strange place would throw at me.

Even though I still had no idea "this strange place" was.

Oh well.


	3. Chapter Three

Arthur's POV

I was upstairs in my room where I hoped I was safe. Tomorrow I would have to go back to school. Tomorrow I would have to face Alfred Jones again.

There was something about him that made me trust him. More accurately, I wanted to trust him. I knew I couldn't, but I wanted to so badly. He couldn't know about my parents. He couldn't know about my brothers. He couldn't know that I wasn't just another average high school student, what I had caused. He couldn't know about the anything. He would never look at me the same way again.

Even though I wanted to tell him. It would feel so good to let it all out.

But what did it matter? He was just a highschool friend.

I looked at the bass guitar resting in the corner of my room. I couldn't practice, Allistor was downstairs. He would probably freak out again. I wasn't sure what his problem was. Sighing, I studied the Union Flag design that covered the body and the four thick strings that stretched over the long neck. It was my only release. It was an old guitar, worn and scratched, but I was proud of it.

I don't know what time it was, but eventually Allistor went to sleep. My parents and other brothers were gone, leaving me at Allistor's mercy. After waiting a few minutes to make sure he wouldn't get back up, I snuck downstairs to get food. Then I disappeared back into my room to let myself dissolve into a peaceful nothingness of sleep.

The next morning I woke up at 4:00 AM. At some point I must've rolled off the bed, because I was on the floor in the clothes I wore yesterday with a blanket wrapped around me and a pillow under my torso. I groaned as I sat up. I would be sore for a long time because of this. As if I needed any more pain. I was already bruised from skateboarding.

I had some time before school, so I shuffled downstairs. If I got lucky I would be able to eat and get back upstairs before Allistor woke up.

I didn't get lucky.

I braced myself. Allistor was always in a terrible mood in the mornings. Being ready for it put me one tiny little step ahead of him.

Alfred's POV

It rained last night. Spending the night outside left me walking into school dripping water across the floor. By third period I had dried off. As I was about to greet Arthur I noticed he couldn't care less about the world around him. He stared past all of the people separating his centralized seat from the windows on the right hand wall of the classroom.

He continued on this way all through third period. I studied him out of the corner of my eye.

His usually messy blonde hair had found even more new directions to stick up in. He wore blue jeans and a white tee shirt, which was slightly closer to what I expected out of his wardrobe. His green eyes were dulled and his fists clenched.

Sighing I turned back to the teacher before he called me out. At the end of the period Arthur rocketed out of the room to fourth. The same occurrence happened between fourth and fifth period.

Before Arthur could shoot his way to whatever mysterious place he always disappeared to I grabbed him around his middle. He panicked and struggled, but I moved him so we had switched spots and I now blocked his path. He stepped back from me, glaring. Being taller and stronger than him had finally become useful.

"Arthur I think it's finally time for you to be honest with me."

"About what?"

I watched him, he stood with his arms crossed. He looked very casual, but he wouldn't look at me and his head was turned to the side. I suspected he was worried that his expression would give him away.

"About where you always disappear to and why. I spend every lunch laughing with Kiku, Ludwig, and Feli but that doesn't stop me from noticing that you aren't present. Ever."

"I told you already. I eat alone and I haven't suddenly decided to change that. Now if you'll excuse me-"

"No, I won't excuse you. I'm coming with you. That's final. Let's go Kirkland."

He stared at me for a minute, then opened and closed his mouth as if he wanted to say something. After thinking he spun on his heel, marching down the hallway. He made no move to stop me from following him.

We walked down the hallways in silence. Arthur was stiff as he marched up to the library and swung open the door.

"Here," he snapped at me.

"Why hello Arthur. I haven't seen you in so long. It's nice to see you again Alfred, you were here at lunch yesterday weren't you?" asked Ms. Matsuoka, a nice old lady who was the school librarian. She had red hair and her eyes reminded me of the color burgundy, but she was a great person, always interested in your day and if you needed help.

Arthur was fuming.

"Oh I just came to return this," I said. It was the book I meant to return yesterday. I was glad to have it with me now.

"I'm assuming you enjoyed it?"

I nodded. It was hard to keep a happy face, because the fact Arthur rarely showed his face at the library was concerning. Something was definitely wrong.

"Well, have a nice day you two. It was great to see you again Arthur."

Once we returned to the hallway, I was about to address Arthur when I heard voices. Not just any voices, ones that I recognized.

I slapped a hand over Arthur's mouth and dragged him with me to a point in the hallway where they couldn't see us. Peeking around the corner, I saw a very angry Lovino cornering Ludwig against a locker, with a frantic Antonio trying to keep Lovino from killing him.

Arthur removed my hand but kept silent. I heard Antonio whispering to Lovino, who grunted in response.

"You be careful you potato loving idiot, I-"

Antonio was pulling Lovino down the hallway, while Ludwig stood frozen to the spot. A second later Feliciano came running from the opposite direction, not noticing us, to help Ludwig. It looked like he was crying. I could guess what this was all about. I looked up at the clock in hallway to see that lunch was almost over.

"Arthur I know you aren't going to the library everyday. You can trust me. Please. Just be honest. Tomorrow, let me come with. I mean the best, and Arthur this is really bugging me. I just need to understand. Please."

The look in his eyes was harsh, and I knew he didn't want to. But I had to believe that he trusted me enough to show me this.

"Fine," he said. "But you don't repeat what you see."

Part one accomplished. There might still be hope for Arthur.

I didn't see Arthur the rest of the day. However, I had all of my classes with Kiku. This was only my fifth day in school and Kiku and I were practically best friends. I had taken an art class, and I was so glad Kiku could help me with it. I actually wasn't a bad artist, and in the short time in Arthur's past I had improved vastly. My artwork was surprisingly good sometimes.

Today we were drawing people in their surroundings. It was the start of a large project. We were to choose a topic, and draw it on this very large daunting piece of paper.

I suddenly remembered the fight between Lovino and Ludwig in the hallway, with a frantic Antonio and a crying Feliciano. There was something going on between Feli and Ludwig, and they were both oblivious to it. Lovino was not. He was definitely protective of his younger twin, but it seemed he went a little too far.

Lovino was oblivious in his own way. Antonio, only a year older, was always there for him. It had been five days, but I already knew. Antonio thought a little higher of Lovino then the Italian boy realized.

I shook my head. The four of them were star crossed high schoolers, Arthur was my main concern here.

I knew what I was going to draw. Lovino cornering Ludwig, Antonio trying to pull Lovino away, a sobbing Feliciano sprinting down the hall with his papers flying out of his grasp. Of course, they wouldn't be Lovino, Ludwig, Antonio, and Feli. They would be nameless people, only there to tell a story in a snapshot.

All of a sudden I stood up. The entire class turned from their easels, which stood in a circle facing the center of the room. The white cinder block walls held me in. The high ceiling and wall of windows gave me a fake freedom.

I had changed so much. I remember my real high school days. Always being loud and obnoxious, proclaiming that "I'm the hero" and watching horror movies I knew would scare the daylight out of me. Of course, I still did those things, but it felt different now.

I felt it crashing over me. We all had changed. What was I doing here? Arthur was fine in the future. I just expected him to be different. He didn't talk about high school because it didn't seem like much went on for him.

"Alfred!" Mr. Vargas shouted. I looked over at him, finally realizing he had been calling me for the entire time I was standing. It was the same Mr. Vargas that would teach World History at Hetalia Academy, and it felt strange to see him here.

"Yes?" I asked, mildly embarrassed.

"Are you OK, you look a little pale and panicked."

" Uh, yeah, I'm fine I guess. Sorry about that."

"It's OK, but if something is bothering you say something." He smiled and let it go, moving on.

I thought about it all through his instructions. Maybe I should go.

No, I realized. There was something else going on. I was right on the edge of learning what Arthur did at lunch. It could unlock a whole new issue. I would stay, for now.

I was taking a risk. I could always mess up. Sure, I had definitely matured since the time I was actually a teenager, but something here felt off.

I pushed the doubt out of my mind. It would be fine. Right now, I had an art project to start.


	4. Chapter Four

Alfred's POV

Kiku and I walked out of the school together, amidst the crowds of students anxious to be free. We didn't need to talk, it was nice to walk together in silence for a bit, kind of like how he acted with Arthur in World History, back at the Academy. I heard thundering footsteps then a strong hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back a little.

"Alfred!" Arthur gasped, trying to regain his breath.

Kiku raised an eyebrow. He knew that Arthur was my friend, but he had never seen Arthur communicate with me outside if the three classes we shared. I was just as surprised as he was.

"I have to be somewhere, I will see you later," Kiku said politely, his eyebrow still raised. Arthur and I stood watching him as he walked away.

I turned back to Arthur, and looked at him expectantly. He blushed a little and moved his left hand, which was still on my shoulder. It was surprisingly callused.

"Well?" I asked.

Arthur's face reddened even more, and for a brief second he tensed like he was about to walk away. He sighed and looked up at me.

"I, uh," he paused, "wanted to know if you would want to spend a few days at my house while my family is away, " he finished, all in one breath.

"Of course!" I replied without thinking. I regretted it almost instantly. Not because I didn't want to spend time with Arthur, but because he might ask too many questions that I wouldn't be able to answer. And when Vladimir worked his magic I would have no way to explain.

Arthur's face showed so much hope that I couldn't say anything. Against the nature of the Arthur from my time, he started walking with a slight spring in his step in the direction I assumed he lived in.

It was not the direction I took to get to my park bench.

I followed him in silence. How long had I been here? Thinking back was hard, everything seemed to blur together. Eleven. That was the magic number. This was my eleventh day. I had used over an eighth of my time and had accomplished a minimal amount. The best case scenario would be to open my locker and see more vials.

"A few more weeks, Vlad. Just a few more," I whispered under my breath.

"What was that?" asked Arthur, turning his head to the side to look back at me.

"Nothing, I was just talking to myself."

Arthur turned back around and we continued walking. We didn't go through nice tree lined paths like I usually did. Instead we walked along quiet roads with barely any traffic. Eventually we started walking down residential streets. Arthur stopped in front of a white house with light blue shutters. The landscaping was perfect, not a leaf out of place. The windows were clean and a welcome mat sat on the front porch.

Arthur looked absolutely disgusted.

"I hate the way they keep the outside of the house. They don't welcome each other in, let alone anyone else. Let's go."

He produced a little key from the depths of his pocket and inserted it into the shining silver lock. He swung open the dark blue door and walked into the house without bothering to take his shoes off. As I unlaced my gym shoes I looked at the dark entryway. Stairs led to a hallway on the left, a door to a dining room to the right, and straight ahead of me was a hallway.

Arthur had somehow disappeared into the house without me noticing.

I set off down the hallway. It opened up to a nicely sized living room with a nice kitchen to the right. A doorway in the living room gave me another view of the dining room. Two doors sat in the corner opposite of the dining room. I opened one to see a small bathroom.

The second door led to an office. It smelled like Arthur.

Wait. Where did that come from? Why would I think that? I sat by Arthur but it was just the school smell. Wasn't it? Maybe it was because I roomed with him in the future, and he… this was just a creepy train of thought to jump on. I shook the thought from my head and breathed in the scent of old books and dust that cowered in corners.

If I faced reality, this was probably the smell that clung to Arthur. I don't know why I noticed the scent of a person. It was being in a different time. It sharpened my senses. I decided to go with that to keep myself from going insane.

On the wall was a lone decoration. It was a small framed picture that hung right in the view of someone at the desk.

I walked over and looked at it. It showed two adults, smiling and laughing with four kids who looked like they were having the time of their life. They were at a park. It looked like my park. There were trees and even a bench in the exact perfect spot to be mine. You could just see a pond across the path.

It was definitely my bench. And there they were. Arthur looked to be the littlest. One child, maybe a year older, had hair that was a nice brown/red mix. The oldest had the same. The one in between the brown/red mixes had wild red hair that made his head look like it had tiny flames leaping around. It was about as messy as Arthur's, which definitely said something. They all had the same bright green eyes. The two adults stood together. The woman looked a lot like Arthur, but her eyes were closed so I couldn't be sure. The man was taller and had hair that was a paler blonde than Arthur's. It was long and messy, tied in a loose ponytail by his neck, and his eyes were a blueish purple. He looked lovingly at the woman.

"I see you've found the family picture, " said Arthur, leaning on the doorway. I jumped.

"When did you get here?"

"Oh I've been here. I didn't have to open the door and make any noise, you left it open."

He looked relaxed. His posture was casual and his eyes didn't look quite as harsh as usual.

"How old is this? Are these your brothers? How old were you? What are their names?"

He sighed and walked over to me. It seemed that my questions brought him down. I felt bad, but I was positive it would be important to know.

"This," he pointed to himself, "is me. I was five at the time. This," he directed my attention to the one that looked a year older than him, "is Dylan. He's a year older than me. The next one up is Allistor." He had moved his finger to point at flameboy. "The oldest is Seamus. Last I saw him his hair was a little longer, about to his chin. Last I saw Dylan he had a ponytail. It suited him, even though our mother threatened to cut it off. Allistor looks like an older version of that, plus a silver earring."

He turned and walked toward a bookshelf.

"What about your parents?" I asked.

"They're my parents. What else is there?"

"I don't know, but you talked about your brothers. You didn't mention your parents at all."

His eyes cut through me like knives when he turned back around. I must have hit a sensitive spot. His parents must be the reason he hurt so much.

"My mother was amazing. She loved us all so much. She was full of life. My dad showed us a little tough love, according to what I've been told, but he had nothing except gentleness for my mother. When we were about that age, Allistor was my best friend. He's only two years older than me. We did everything together. We got along well with Dylan and Seamus, but we were a pair.

"If you hadn't noticed, he's still around here. If you hadn't noticed this either, I only invited you over because Allistor and my mother are gone. They went to visit Seamus. Now I just said the best possible things about them, so can you guess that something went wrong? That something would be my father. About a year after that picture he got fed up with me. He basically said that he hated me and that I ruined our family. He left the next day. He divorced my mother and moved on."

I had been watching Arthur's face the entire time. He had softened when he talked about his mother and brother, but practically spit out the words about his father. It was like his father was a foul taste in his mouth that he couldn't get rid of.

"Allistor adored our father. Dylan looked up to Allistor, and Seamus loved Dylan like nothing else. So when my dad left because of me, Allistor turned against me. We were close, but he treasured our father more. He hasn't been the same since. Dylan couldn't look at me for the longest time, and when he does now it's usually to remind me how much he hates me. I haven't seen him in years. Seamus just refuses to acknowledge my existence. Note that I didn't go with to visit him.

"My mother can't stand me. I ruined her perfect life. I took everything she loved and made it a mess. She didn't care that it killed me. I was the mistake of the family. They loved me enough, until I did something. I'm not exactly sure what it was. This was my father's office. No one comes in here anymore except me. They haven't since he left. So that's my family. Great, isn't it? How's your family?"

I couldn't talk. What Arthur had just said explained a lot, but gave me even more questions. No, I told myself. Now isn't the time. I should answer him.

"It's pretty normal. I've got my parents, they get along great and like me enough. I have a twin sister, and they show her a little favoritism. It's okay though, Amelia is a good sister. I've got a cousin named Matthew, and he's basically my little brother. His parents don't mind that he spent as much of his childhood with me and my family as he did with his own. He's still my best friend."

Arthur studied me carefully. Eventually he turned and left, and I followed. He closed the door carefully behind me. We headed into the kitchen in hopes of finding food. After digging around he produced pasta.

We cooked in silence. It didn't take long to make, and as we sat there eating I decided it was time to get him to talk, at least a little.

"Hey Arthur?"

" Yeah?"

"I'm sorry if I pushed you into talking about your family. I didn't intend to."

"No, it's okay. It felt good to talk about it. It's been a while."

I was surprised that it didn't bother him. If that had happened to me I would be a train wreck. This edgy version of the future Arthur didn't seem to mind. He didn't seem all that different, aside from the lack of perfect manners.

We washed everything in a much more comfortable silence. As he was leading me upstairs I stopped and grabbed my backpack. At the top of the stairs he paused.

"Mother," he said, pointing to the only door on the far left. "Bathroom" was the door closest to his mother's on the long wall, and next to it was Seamus. On the other short end was Allistor on the right and Arthur's room to the left on a short expanse of wall by the stairs. Dylan's was on the short area of wall to the left of the staircase.

We headed to Arthur's room. I couldn't help but think of children ranging from nine to five running up and down this hallway, just having a fun time doing nothing.

The room was small, with minimal decorations. There was a desk with a plant, a bed, closet doors, a dresser, and a bookshelf. Everything was net and in its place. There was some open space on the wall and in the middle of the room. Everything was a dark wood. The bedspread was a dark blue and the walls were a light gray. It was a nice room. I pictured a more adult Arthur living in this room.

Apparently it made me laugh out loud, because Arthur looked at me strangely.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about one of my friends trying to exist in this space," I responded, holding back more laughter.

He nodded, not knowing that my "friend" was just a future him.

We spent eternity completing homework. We were laying on the floor finishing the last bit when Arthur looked at a clock perched on the shelf.

"Why does this nonsense take so long?" he asked, gathering everything up. After we had sorted out who's paper was who's and shoved them all into our backpacks he lent me a pair of running shorts and a tee shirt to sleep in. He was extremely awkward about it.

We camped out on the floor where we had just done our mountain of homework. In the dark I could hear Arthur lightly snoring. He had warned me that he did, but I already knew. With the number of times he had fallen asleep while watching movies with me there wasn't anyway I could forget.

He had smiled. It was a small smile, and it was while he was asleep. It was the only time he had smiled since I entered the past, or at least that I had seen.

It was just one, but it was a start.

He had rolled the other way after that, so I had no way to know if he had smiled again.

I was about to roll over myself when I remembered something. The journal, I was supposed to document everything. I sat up and dug a pen out of my bag, along with the cute little book. I recorded the last few days, and paused before I closed it. I didn't really think, but I started writing something else. The story of the time I made scones with future Arthur. Well, we tried to make scones. I left for two minutes, two. But when I came back smoke filled the little kitchen we shared. It the middle of the room stood Arthur, green oven mitts on his hands and the tray of scones being held up.

Some of the scones were legitimately on fire.

The rest were black as charcoal. Two minutes ago they were perfect. Then I left Arthur alone with them. He looked up sheepishly, as if to say "they don't really look that bad." They did, and he knew it.

Needless to say, from then on I was in charge of the kitchen.

Writing that little story felt right. It was a mix of past Arthur and future Arthur in one little book, and it was keeping me sane. This whole past life was getting to me. I smiled as I closed the book, and I flopped down onto my back. Bad idea, I was sleeping on the floor.

I was just drifting off when he rolled onto his back again. I sensed that the rolling around would last all night. The times he had fallen asleep watching movies he had been sitting up, and I wouldn't have known he was asleep except for the fact that his head nodded.

He should have told me that he moved around instead of that he snored. It would have been new information.

My eyelids started to droop.

It was a good day. I could only hope that tomorrow would be just great.


	5. Chapter Five

I had a lot of fun with this chapter lol enjoy. . .

Arthur's POV

I woke up on the floor. That made two days in a row. I rolled over and almost screamed. There was another human on my bedroom floor. I jumped up, then remembered. Alfred. Of course.

He didn't stir, and barely rolled over when I dropped a book on his face. I sighed. It wasn't a hardcover, but still. How did he function when it was so impossible to wake him up?

I found jeans and a tee shirt, then went downstairs to find something to eat. There wasn't much, but I found some fruit, bread, and an avocado. I toasted the bread, spread the avocado on it, and sliced the fruit. This would work.

"Alfred. Alfred! Alfred wake up already you bloody idiot!" I yelled when I returned to my room. He mumbled something in his sleep and rolled away from me. I set the plates down on the bed and knelt on the floor.

"Alfred!" I screamed in his face.

He woke up. That was a fact. He sat up so fast he slammed his forehead into mine, and I flew backward.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"I should ask you the same thing," I replied, standing up and brushing off my jeans. "You weren't waking up, so I did what I had to do. I made breakfast."

I handed the plate down. He looked at it, then started eating. He ate at a concerning pace. He was almost finished, and I was only halfway through my toast.

"Always a gentleman," he muttered.

I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean. Yes, I had manners. It was almost as if he knew me longer than a week. I decided to think about it later. Instead, I finished my breakfast and managed to find a shirt for him to use for school.

(Time skip brought to you by Germany)

It was a miracle, but we made it to school on time. Alfred went his way, and I went mine. When I reached the music room Ludwig's older brother Gilbert, Antonio, and a quiet Swiss named Basch Zwingli were already there.

This was my band. Gilbert and Antonio had their guitars, and Basch was behind the drums. I grabbed my bass, and without a word we started. Our playing was flawless, and Antonio's singing was perfectly on pitch. We moved from song to song without having to stop to talk to each other.

The music moved, it twisted and bended. This was our place. This was our room. Basch and I pounced a powerful background, while Gilbert on an electric guitar and Antonio on an acoustic matched each other perfectly. Somehow Antonio was able to be heard above us.

I didn't know how many songs we had played, or what they were. We read each other so well it was easy to get lost. We didn't go in any sort of order, we were able to go along without one.

The first bell rang. Gilbert swore as he struggled to get everything packed. We had five minutes. We had all gotten so lost that we failed to notice the time. It was a great way to start the day. It was what I needed in the morning.

Somehow we made it to class on time. The four of us skidded into biology with a second to spare. We dove into the back row just as the bell went off. Our normal teacher wasn't there. This was a man called Mr. Ackerman, and it looked like the four of us were about to get killed. At first I tried to ignore it, but the man was incredibly short.

We spent more than half of the class going over punctuality and organization. This man was strange. He had an interesting personality, and was very rough. He knew what he was talking about. At some point in time he started dusting the shelves and the desks. Anything we had on our desk was fair game. He would pick it up, clean the desk to his satisfaction, and set it back down.

The class was stunned. He seamlessly transitioned from the importance of keeping things dusted to the lesson we were supposed to have. Any student in that room would have begged to have him as a permanent teacher. Somehow his moving around didn't keep us in that awkward place between bored to death and asleep. The material was actually interesting.

The next period was torture compared to Mr. Ackerman's lesson.

I sat down next to Alfred in third. Seeing him reminded me of his comment earlier.

I spent the entire period zoned out, trying to figure out what he meant by "always a gentleman." That's not what I would classify myself as. Just because I had more manners than the rest of the school didn't mean that I was completely a gentleman.

It was like he knew something I didn't.

Alfred's POV

I could tell that Arthur kept looking over at me. He was thinking about something, but I wasn't sure what. It kept on all the way until lunch.

"Well Arthur, it's time."

He glared at me and started off down the hallway. We passed the room I had biology in the period after lunch. He paused at a door that I had never stopped to look at before. After taking a deep breath he opened the door.

It was extremely dark, and I had to wait for my eyes to adjust. As they did I started to make out the shapes of instruments. There were two guitars, and electric and and acoustic, sitting next to each other behind a microphone stand. Off to the side sat a little bass guitar with a Union Flag pattern on it. There were drums behind it, with the drumsticks set nicely on the snare drum.

I gave Arthur a crooked grin.

"Why is this such a secret? Who are the other members? The bass is yours, correct?"

He glared at me while answering.

"It's a secret because we want it to be. Gilbert Beilschmidt plays the electric, Antonio Fernández Carriedo on acoustic, Basch Zwingli on drums," he muttered. "Happy now?"

"Yeah, this is great!" I sat down on the drummer's seat. "So you practice during lunch because of your family? When do you practice with the others?"

"Yes, I do. We practice first period. Now will you leave so I can get in a periods worth of playing?"

"Heck no," I laughed. "I'm going to stay here and listen."

Arthur hadn't looked this scary before. Maybe it was just the darkness.

" No, you will not. Go. Or sit here by yourself. I could always go to the library, Ms. Matsouka would be happy to see me," he spat.

I wasn't sure what to do. One part of me said that I should run while I could. The other part told me that I needed to press forward.

I got up slowly, like you do when you're trying not to upset and angry animal. I mumbled a quick goodbye and made my way into the hallway.

I was backing a little away when I turned around around, only to be face-to-face with someone I didn't recognize.

He was short. Incredibly short. He didn't look very happy. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth was a thin line. I was worried for my safety. Maybe I should've just stayed in the music room and faced Arthur.

"S-sorry," I managed to squeak.

"No problem," he replied. His voice was deep and smooth. It did nothing to reassure me.

He walked around me and I hurried down the hall. I wasn't particularly hungry, so when I reached the lunchroom I sat down without getting anything to eat. Vladimir had sent me lunch money, but today I would stash it for later instead of using it.

All through lunch I couldn't help but look at Gilbert and Antonio a little different. Gilbert had never mentioned a high school band to me. Maybe Arthur had sworn him to secrecy, or something like that. As loud as he wa, Gilbert could keep a secret. Basch Zwingli was a name I recognized from the Academy, even if we didn't talk much.

When lunch ended I headed straight for my locker, then headed to class. I saw Arthur as he made his way out of the music room. He nodded at me and disappeared into the crowd.

I walked into biology and stopped dead in my tracks. It was him. The short scary man that I had run into while leaving the music room.

He smiled at me as I made my way to a seat in the back. Once everyone was settled he started talking.

Class with Mr. Ackerman was an experience. He made biology interesting. We got more done than usual, but somehow spent half the time talking about real life matters. For the first time, I enjoyed the hour I spent in that room. I walked away smiling.

I got to art and looked at my project. I had started to draw the outlines of the people. I wasn't sure what I was doing, my subconscious mind was taking over.

I didn't say a word the entire period. I worked and worked and worked. At the end of the period I paused, horrified. Where had my mind gone?

They didn't look exactly like the people in real life. I was the only one who could tell. It was Allistor as I imagined him. He was Ludwig. It was a younger version of Arthur's father, and he was Lovino. There was another version of Arthur's father there, in place of Antonio. He had similar features, but he looked younger and had different eyes. And Arthur. I couldn't see the face of him, but he was young. About the age he was in the picture. The tears flew back and splattered the "camera lense" that was capturing the picture.

Allistor was angry. You could tell that the anger was directed at the father. But the look on his face didn't show anger. It was something a lot stronger. Maybe it was love. Maybe it was compassion. I wasn't sure. But whatever it was, the stronger emotion was for Arthur. The person who was Antonio wasn't helping Allistor. He looked as if he were about to attack Arthur. Allistor was screaming. Screaming at Arthur to run. Screaming at the father to back off. Screaming at the world for doing this to him.

I backed up slowly. Where had this come from? I hadn't thought about what I was drawing. It just came out of my mind, through my hand, into the pencil, and onto the paper.

I knocked over a shelf or two in my backing away. For the second day in a row the class was staring at me and Mr. Vargas was failing to get my attention.

I decided that this class was bad for my sanity.

(time skip brought to you by Greece's cats)

I walked out of the building in a daze. After escaping Mr. Vargas and his concern I barely made it through the rest of the day. Now Kiku and Arthur were both hovering over me like concerned parents, trying to figure out what was going on in my head. I wasn't sure myself, and even if I was sure I doubted I'd tell them.

It wasn't that they weren't like brothers to me. It was just that this had come out of my mind. It was my problem. This was something I had to do on my own. No help from them, no magic from Vladimir. I couldn't stop their moral support, but that I think I needed.

Kiku had told Arthur what happened. Luckily he hadn't put everything together and recognized the young Arthur. Neither of them got it. Neither of them understood that I was panicking. Why had my brain conjured that image? Mr. Vargas had praised me for the detail and care put into it. I told him I wanted to start over. He said that I should pursue it, it could lead me somewhere. Yeah, it was leading me somewhere, that's for sure. A sweet little place called insanity.

Either way, I bent to his will and agreed to continue the project. I wasn't sure if I would be able to, but I might as well try.

I distantly heard Kiku say goodbye. I was still in a daze. I felt Arthur's callused bass guitar-playing hand on my shoulder, steering me. My mind told me that this was the way back to his house. What if Allistor was there? Before the drawing I would of been angry at him for the way he treated Arthur. Now I wasn't so sure.

When we made our way through the door I slid down the wall and put my face in my hands. Arthur sat down next to me. That was nice and fine. It was the next part that almost shot me to Mars.

It was cautious. But it was something. He put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a bit of a side hug. I could just barely feel his heartbeat off to my left.

"Alfred? You here, mate? I'm assuming you can hear me. Look, I don't know what happened. Kiku's account wasn't all that descriptive. Whatever it was, you'll sort it out. I believe in you. You can talk to me if you want, but I won't force you. Some things you just have to do on your own."

With that he got up and walked into the other room.

I was stunned. Too many things had happened in a day. Who was this boy? Was this really Arthur? Had someone taken control of his body?

But it did seem familiar, in a odd way. He had done this before. He had comforted me. This was his method. It was calm, not to aggressive. But it was special, it was something that worked miracles.

I thought back to my day. The morning, a nice normal morning with Arthur and his weird idea of spreading avocado on toast. Classes. Arthur's strange behavior, his lack of attention and the strange amount of times he kept looking over at me. Then it was lunch, and I figured out his big secret. Mr. Ackerman, why did he stick out in my mind? I would deal with him later. Then art. And Arthur's comfort.

My mind cleared, just for a second.

Food and a nice long nap. The recipe for success. I dragged myself up and followed Arthur into the kitchen.

Arthur's POV

Alfred had fallen asleep the second he sat down on the floor. I snuck a pillow under his head and gave him a blanket. There wasn't much worse than being going to sleep stressed and waking up with a stiff neck.

I made my way back downstairs. For a while I busied myself cleaning. It was pointless. I wasn't accomplishing much. I glanced over at my father's office, and found myself slowly gravitating toward it. I gave in to my impulses and made my way inside.

Sighing I slumped down into his chair and stared at the picture on the wall. Why? What had I done? How did I tear this family apart? Was it really my fault? Or was it just and excuse to get away from us all?

"Why father? Why did you leave? What did I do?" my face fell into my hands, as Alfred had done in the entryway. It was strange, how normal it felt to comfort him. Like I would do the same thing for a large portion of my life.

"Because," rumbled a voice. "It was better for you all."

I jumped, roused from my thoughts. The chair fell over backwards. Time slowed down.

He stood in the doorway, leaning casually against the doorframe. It was the exact way I had when Alfred was in this room. It was the exact way he had done when I was young. He was so familiar, but so far away.

We stared at each other. Seconds, minutes, hours, eternity. I wasn't sure how long it had been. The air was heavy. Nothing moved except the people in this room. It reminded me of playing with the band. This was the dark side of the force that filled the practice room when we played. I wasn't sure I was breathing. His eyes studied me, taking in everything that had changed since he left so long ago. My height, my hair, my eyes. The strength that I had accumulated from holding a bass and lugging amplifiers back and forth. The calluses from the thick strings. How bushy my eyebrows had become. He saw it all.

And I studied him.

He looked very similar. A bit of the youthful light had left his eyes, but not much. His hair was still in a ponytail, not an inch longer or shorter. The color was the same. His eyes were still violet. Everyone said they had too much blue in them to be violet. They were wrong. As I stood there looking at the obvious things like his hair and eyes, I remembered how well I knew him. I remembered his scent, the scent that lingered in this room to this day. I remembered the way he talked, how the words rolled off his tongue. I remembered all of the little things that I thought I had forgotten. The things I made myself forget.

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. This was real, I was sure of it.

"Hello, Arthur," he said. The tears rolled down my cheeks, the battle to hold them back forgotten.

"Hello, Father."

. . . The cliffhanger mwahaha (idk I just ended the top authors not here should I not do that? )


	6. Chapter Six

New POV because it was the night before a convention and I was at my friends and probably on a sugar high. Yes I remember when I wrote this, even though it was months ago. Sshh that's not important have fun with a trip through Allistor's mind (that sounded weird) .

Allistor's POV

I was supposed to be excited to see Seamus. It had been a while since I saw him, but after our father left it seemed like being around him was a pain. He was fine until about sixteen, when he really snapped. All of the childhood anger has caught up to him.

Years later he still drove me nuts.

My mother was humming slightly to herself as she drove. It was a nice day. The sky was blue with a few puffy white clouds. The long grass was a beautiful green and swayed gently in the breeze. It was such a cliché.

Eventually we arrived at the tiny little farmhouse Seamus lived in. He and his girlfriend actually enjoyed this life. It really was something else. Nothing was around for miles. I hadn't thought of anything on the way here except for the gentle grass. It had a hypnotizing effect to it. Now my brain started working again. It told me that I shouldn't have come.

His girlfriend wasn't home. It was probably better that way because I couldn't remember her name for the life of me. Taking one look at the kitchen, my mom dove back into her car and disappeared down the road. Seamus didn't have much in the way of food at his place.

This left me alone with him. He was different now. He might look the same, but he seemed to have forgotten about Father and Arthur and Dylan. He happily chattered about whatever came to mind. I heard him mention chickens and cattle, but I really was just tuning him out. I had followed him into the kitchen where he was putting away a stack of shining white plates.

It was a nice kitchen, with white floors and counter tops. The cabinets were a dark wood. A window stood over the sink, and a normal light fixture hung above our heads. A rack of cookbooks sat next to the counter. I studied them as Seamus rambled on.

I hadn't spent a day in a car to hear this nonsense.

"Seamus," I snapped.

He looked up, confused.

"The chickens are all very nice but there's an elephant in the room and we're ignoring it. We've both changed, yes. But you know how Mother hates this farm. Why do you think she disappeared? That's not the real issue. The real issue is you. You're insufferable, and by the end of this I'll have spent two days in a car to see you for less than twenty four hours. You know we haven't gotten along in years. Then why would we now? We're only going to give Mother a heartache with how unkind her children are to each other. Honestly, even Arthur is better to be around than you."

The next thing I knew I was dodging the cookbooks I had just been admiring, as they were now flying at my head. He was steaming. I wasn't sure what had hit a nerve. Insulting his life, talking about our mother's dislike for his life, insulting his person, or maybe it was saying Arthur's name. Yeah... It was probably that last one.

"I don't care what Mother thinks of my lifestyle! She can't control my life! But you, you think you can do whatever. Listen to me Flameboy-"

I flinched. His once endearing nickname that came from my vivid hair color now dripped with venom.

"-don't not compare me to that dirty rotten excuse of a human. He tore us apart. Maybe I would've stayed in the city. Maybe Dylan wouldn't have left and ignored us all. I get ignoring that brat of a brother, but you and me? Oh no, we never did anything. If I could I would teach that little idiot a lesson-"

I was done. I had played along with it for too long. I loved Arthur. He was my little brother, my best friend. But I did what I had to do for the family. With Seamus so out of it I was the man of the house. And if they believed that it was Arthur's fault then I had to let it be. The truth would only tear us farther apart.

I hated every second of it. Having to scorn my little brother, who had no idea what was going on. He didn't know what he had done. He didn't know that he had done nothing.

But the truth had slept too long. It was time.

"I want you to listen to me, and listen close. Arthur was not responsible for our father leaving. I'm not sure why he blamed Arthur. Father and I both knew it was my fault. Maybe he thought you all could forgive Arthur, even if you couldn't forgive me. I'm not sure. Either way it became Arthur's weight to carry. And I had to go with it. I had to sacrifice my best friend to keep you and Mother and Dylan from falling farther apart. Don't treat him like the gum on your shoe, I'm the one that needs the blame."

I felt the anger. I knew right away that he could sense that I was telling the truth.

"What did you do?" he growled.

I felt the tears pricking the corners of my eyes. I couldn't relive it, not yet. It was too much at once.

"If I could tell you I would. But right now is too soon."

Seamus had been my brother when I had abandoned Arthur. I hoped he still had love in him. Love for someone other than his girlfriend.

He did.

We spent the rest of our time alone sitting high up in the tree by his dirt driveway. My thoughts were heavy. I had kept that secret for so long, why did I spill it out now? Especially the fact I told Seamus. Arthur is the one that deserved to know. Seamus had done nothing for any of us. When we got back tomorrow I would tell Arthur.

Mother's now dusty red car pulled up and she disappeared into the house with food for a feast.

And a feast it was. She really had outdone herself. It was a normal night. We spent time catching up on each other's lives. Seamus talked about the land and his plans. Mother talked about work. I listened, like I always did. There wasn't much I ever had to say. Arthur was never once mentioned. Mother went to sleep early for the drive home tomorrow.

Seamus didn't say anything ad we sat in the dying light. His comfort radiated off him, and I knew that while he wasn't on good terms with me, brotherly love still existed somewhere deep down inside him. I wasn't sure why he was quick to scorn Arthur but even quicker to forgive me. It bothered me, pulled at some part of me that said "this isn't right." But I ignored that for now. Someday I would be able to relive the rest of the truth. Someday. Then we would see what Seamus really felt.

I realized that we had told Arthur we would be gone four days, not three. I hoped that he was prepared. Mother always gave him a hard time just for existing. For my own safety I couldn't defend him, not yet. Once I got stronger though, then I would break out of her grip and save us both. I had to. I liked to say that that had been my plan all along, but when I was younger I really was glad to have myself saved. I didn't realize how torn apart Arthur was until recently. He was the only one to ever go in Father's office, and it took me a while to figure out that he did. Ever since I heard him snoring from behind the closed door one morning I had been checking every night. It wasn't often that he slept upstairs. Father's disappearance might have had a longer lasting effect on him than any of us. Maybe it was because he knew it wasn't his fault, even if we told him it was.

I shook my head. Too many thoughts, not enough sleep.

I decided to follow Mother's example and left Seamus sitting by himself to ponder his own thoughts. The silence of the remote area was nice as I cleared my mind.

I had drifted off to sleep before the sun had set.


	7. Chapter Seven

Alfred's POV

I was inside of the drawing. I was floating above the four of them, but I wasn't sure how. It didn't seem important at the moment. Arthur was running, the tears streaming down his face. Arthur's father was laughing. Allistor was screaming.

"Run!" he yelled. "Go! Don't look back! Arthur, you idiot! Why are you running towards us? Turn around! Go!" he screamed, before Arthur's father hit him in the jaw. The other slightly different version of Arthur's father cracked his knuckles and stepped closer to Arthur.

The child skidded to a halt. He looked so confused. He wanted to save Allistor, but he was so small and vulnerable. Allistor's eyes pleaded with him to run.

He called out for his brother. I felt my heart breaking.

Arthur turned. He ran. His sobs echoed down the halls, bouncing off the walls and the floor. I could just make out the sound of Father One and Father Two kicking the wind out if Allistor. Blood covered the floor around him. Fathers One and Two walked in the opposite direction of Arthur.

A bass played a slow mournful song. It's rhythm blended with the cruel laughter of Fathers One and Two, the pounding of Arthur's feet and his sobs, and the soft hisses of pain that escaped Allistor's lips as he struggled.

Allistor's blood spread. Not like normal blood, but it made a web. It was like an invisible spider was stringing his blood across the floor.

It was sickeningly beautiful.

The web turned into images. One of Allistor and the young Arthur, they were building some sort of fort. One of them with their father, and he had an arm around each of them. One with all of the brothers, standing in a row, smiling from ear to ear.

The images continued to form. I watched, mesmerized by what was forming in front of my eyes.

Good memories came from the wound on Allistor.

That's when it hit me. He had lost a lot of blood. And the blood was all good memories. He was bleeding out all of the good. What would be left was bitterness and resentment.

I struggled against the invisible force the kept me floating. Somehow I broke through it and I fell to the floor next to Allistor.

It occurred to me that I had never had an interactive dream before. I scolded myself, now wasn't the time for my little moments of reflection.

He looked at me. I tried to stop the bleeding, but looking around I could see the web of images was still growing. I hadn't squashed one when I had fallen, but I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

Allistor was weak. I could feel the joy draining out if him. It left him a shell of the boy in the pictures. The bass was still playing, the Fathers were still laughing, and Arthur was still running and sobbing.

He looked at me. His eyes were the same vibrant green as the other brothers. His wild red hair fell around his head.

"Take good care of Arthur," he managed to say.

"No," I insisted. "You'll be fine. Now shush, don't strain yourself." I was still trying and failing to stop the bleeding.

He looked me in the eye. We both knew. This was the end.

"Take good care of Arthur," he murmured.

His emerald eyes closed. His breathing stopped. He looked like he was asleep. Blood still dripped out of his slightly parted lips onto the floor. I stood up. The images and the web were moving across the floor. Soon they had disappeared.

But in there place one last image formed. It was brief, and I wanted to believe I had seen it wrong. It was Arthur. I couldn't tell what, but something was seriously wrong. He wasn't sick, that wasn't the issue. I couldn't put my finger on it. He looked happy, with wide eyes and a large laughing smile, as he jumped he perfectly balanced a tray of cupcakes. I knew it was bad. Allistor and I were there too, in the background. We had been crying, huddled together on the floor.

The image disappeared like the previous happy ones. The floor where they had been was sparkling clean. Around Allistor was a normal pool of blood. It was like nothing had ever happened.

I woke up drenched in sweat, and bolted into a sitting position. What was my brain trying to do to me? It was all too much. I decided not to think about the dream. Maybe I should go find Arthur. I considered it, but figured he was probably having a nice peaceful time while I was sleeping away.

I laid down and closed my eyes. Hopefully I wouldn't dream this time. However, every time I closed my eyes I saw the last blood image. I got up off Arthur's floor and stretched. I didn't remember walking up here, but I was pretty tired when I had gotten back to Arthur's, and I figured it was normal to forget walking up stairs.

I decided I wanted to go for a walk, maybe find my park bench. After flinging myself down the stairs I yelled through the house to Arthur, telling him I was going. From somewhere in the structure he acknowledged what I said.

His voice sounded a little choked up but I figured that he was probably eating. It was nice outside, not too cold and not too hot. As I walked around I realized I wasn't thinking, not about the dream, not about Arthur, not about about the potion that Vladimir had concocted. I didn't care that I seemed to be the only normal student at Hetalia Academy, maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. It wasn't important.

Something in the back of my mind told me I should be concerned that I felt dizzy and disoriented. But I pushed it aside and sang along with the birds.

I sang my way back to Arthur's, only to be promptly kicked out. I didn't worry much, his family was probably getting home. He did seem off, but again it was probably just his family.

I set off walking.

(yet another time skip because anime)

It had been two weeks. Arthur had distanced himself from me. However Vladimir had sent me more of that potion, and naturally I drank all of it. In total I probably had… three months? Four? I didn't know how long I had been here, or how long I had left, but I pretended it wasn't important.

In the two weeks without Arthur I had bonded with a large amount of people. Gilbert and Kiku remained two of the best people I knew here, just like at the Academy, but the circle was growing. I had even managed a small bond with Arthur's bandmate, Basch Zwingli.

We still had Mr. Ackerman. His height only made his harsh personality even more amusing.

As much as I hated to I had to admit it, I had wasted those two weeks. Any attempt to converse with Arthur had been half hearted and feeble. Instead I had acted like I did when I actually was in high school. I was loud and obnoxious, constantly surrounded by people.

But now I had finally started thinking again. Earlier I had tried to force Arthur to accept my presence. It didn't work. He really had closed off. It was starting to get under my skin. I needed to know what was going on. I had been stupid. I should have figured out what had gone wrong with Arthur's high school life before jumping into it. Now I could be fighting the wrong battle. I was scared to leave him here by himself. I had been keeping my eye on him during these past two weeks. I was nervous that as soon as he knew I was gone he would do something stupid. But at the same time I needed to talk to the Arthur of my time. Stupid me had drank all of the vials of potion that had kept me here. I couldn't go home then come back.

I pulled the vial of returning potion out of my pocket. I studied it, tilting it back and forth. It was lunch, and I sat in the back corner of the library, escaping Ms. Matsouka. I had to do something. But what?

It wasn't until art that I figured it out. I would just drink half of the potion. That would work, right? It had to, it was the only thing I had come up with. At the end of the day I carefully made my way back to my park. I quickly pulled out the journal, and spent about an hour writing what I had neglected to add. Finally, it was time.

I pulled the stopper out of the vial. This was it. If the previous potion was smooth and cold than this was fire. It burned and forced it's way down my throat.

I made sure to stop drinking halfway.

At first nothing happened, I was still standing in the park. Then the pain started.

It wasn't gradual, one second I was fine and the next second I couldn't breathe. I felt as if my body was being ripped in half. Somehow I was able to move my muscles and saw my arm. It was shimmering unnaturally. It looked as if I was fading. All of a sudden I left my body. That's the only way I could think to describe it. I saw a shimmery form, the one that had my conscience with it, step out of my physical body. My body collapsed to the ground, looking strangely helpless. As the shimmery me floated upwards the wing started to get faster. It swirled around me, and then I was falling. I ended up being dropped into a white box.

There was nothing here. No way to get in and no way to get out. I crawled around looking. Under me had been a trap door, I could see the framing.

Pulling it up I looked down. As I looked down I saw Vladimir's bedroom. Messy as always. He was sitting at a table mixing something. The wind that had been around me must have gotten into his room, because papers started flying everywhere. They created a funnel around the spot where I had consumed the first vial. Vladimir struggled over to the funnel. The wind was almost knocking him over. The funnel disappeared as quick as it had came. Where the center had been was my body. Well, half of it. The right half of my body was shimmering, much like the form I was in right now. I watched as Vladimir panicked, obviously not knowing what was going on. Daniel came running in and also kneeled down next to my half-body, panicking.

Daniel always seemed normal. However, he had this way about him that couldn't be explained. It wasn't like he could read your mind, but somehow his words were almost able to hypnotize you into saying what you thought. It was freaky. But Daniel's strange Hetalia Academy worthy talent wasn't what I should be focusing on right now.

I watched the two of them. Daniel was poking and prodding at my shimmery half, watching his finger go straight through to the floor. Vladimir was pacing trying to figure out what was happening.

I took my gaze away from them. Where was the right half of my body? I felt around and found another trap door. I yanked it open to see the right half of my body. It was resting on a tree limb, high up where no one would see it without looking. This time the left half was shimmering.

Good going, Alfred. You definitely didn't make this whole project a disaster.

"Yes, you really did mess up royally."

I jumped up, spinning around. There was no one else here. It was just me, the walls, and the trapdoors. Where the heck did that voice come from?

"I'm right behind you," the voice laughed.

I spun around. There was nothing. I was baffled, but something stepped forward.

I had no idea where he came from. His skin was the universe. The stars swirled around on his arms, planets orbited the sun on his face. My description didn't do the phenomenon justice. His hair, tee shirt, and jeans were the same impeccable white as the room. His eyes... There was nothing there. When he looked up I wasn't sure what I expected, but it wasn't nothing. The black sockets were like black holes, everything got lost inside them. The thoughts of everything living thing that has ever existed. But for all that they were emotionless, and they gave me the creeps as they did what I could only describe as staring straight through anything physical about me to my mind.

"Yes, I can read your mind, since you were wondering. This isn't a dream, I assure you. I know you're confused. You don't know where you are or why. You're worried about your friend, and yourself. Recently you thought that you were out of place at your Academy. I know it all. You have so many questions, and maybe I'll try to answer them. Maybe I won't."

"W-who are you?" I gasped out.

I was stunned. This was unreal. This boy was barely older than me. Or at least, that's what it looked like. But the universe was on his skin, and he could read my mind. These two trap doors of his, they showed two places on opposite sides of the world right in completely different times right next to each other. He was a powerful being beyond my imagination. I had to be dreaming. I had to. There's no way that this could be happening.

"I am Everything."

(that entire ending that fangirl in my brain was just screaming maRCOOOOO so like I'm sorry if anyone else got that lol)


	8. Chapter Eight

Arthur's POV

I woke up to music. Loud music. Allistor usually didn't turn his music up this loud. Actually, he wasn't usually up this early. The clock on the nearby desk read 9:37. It was definitely early for him to be up. I dragged myself out of bed and down the hall. On my way I checked the driveway. My mother wasn't home.

However, as I approached Allistor's door, I realized the music was coming from somewhere else.

Seamus.

Why would there be music coming from his room? He moved in with his girlfriend in some field somewhere. Even then, he got up even later than Allistor.

Either way I couldn't deny that there was music coming from his room. I walked over cautiously. I was aware that the first time I would see Seamus in years, assuming that it was actually Seamus in his room, and I was wearing old track shorts and a tea stained the shirt. I decided not to even think about my hair. I couldn't control it anyway.

But standing in the hallway with my hand on the doorknob, I did. My entire family was blessed with nice hair. My mother's hair was long and beautiful. My father had hair was like silk. All of my brothers had hair that was easy to tame and make it look nice. The there was me.

Family legend stated that once when I was little my father had tamed my hair. He had styled it just like his. Everyone agreed that it definitely did not work for me.

I shook my head. I didn't need to think about this now.

Swinging open the door I saw Seamus and Allistor laying on the floor with the tops of their heads together. Seamus looked over and sat up.

"Artie!" he yelled, jumping to his feet. He wrapped me in a bear hug that left me struggling to breathe.

"How hard did you hit your head?"

Seamus pulled back and put his hands on my shoulders. He looked at me quizzically. He turned his head to look at Allistor, who was now sitting up. He looked back at me. Then Allistor. This pattern continued on until he finally broke the silence.

"So you didn't say anything to him?" he asked Allistor with obvious shock in his voice. He cradled my head as I tried to squirm away from him.

"Oh I'm so sorry Artie I thought he would've talked to you."

I finally shook myself free.

"Well could you just tell me now or-"

"Of course, of course. Now come sit." He sat down next to Allistor and beckoned for me to sit across from them.

"Why should I? I have no way to prove that this isn't a trap. Besides, all you've done these past years is make me miserable. Before you disappeared without even bothering to say goodbye, that is."

Allistor looked shocked. Seamus took it all in stride. He looked up at me.

"You're right."

I didn't remember the last time Seamus had admitted to something. His eyes shone a little more than usual. There was no way he was crying. No way. He pulled me into another hug.

"It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault, really. He used Allistor as an excuse, but worse than that, he tricked us all. Flame Boy over here found out his dirty little secret, so he decided he should leave. No, he had already decided. It was just a good opportunity. And then he blames you. Because he thought we would forgive you. And we didn't. You've suffered for nothing because of us. It's not you fault, or Allistor's, no it's no one's fault but his own. I'm so sorry Arthur. If you can't forgive me or Allistor then I understand. But I'm still sorry."

This very well could be the most shocking thing that had ever happened to me. Yes, it could be a trick, but I was willing to take a risk.

"It's alright. I get it. I won't interrogate you now, but there's one question I'm going to ask. What was Father's big secret?"

Allistor sucked in a large breath. Seamus wiped his tears. I still didn't believe that he was crying.

"Well, I was avoiding the topic but Seamus has asked me, too... I might as well just say it. We have a half brother."

Seamus looked at me. I looked at him. What? It took us a while, but slowly it dawned on us. We gasped and fell into a sitting position across from Allistor in perfect synch. It was just like we used to, all for of us. But this was risky, so I decided to cut the sentiments out of my mind for the time being.

"He had left to go to someplace or the other. I wasn't home when he left, I was out on my bicycle. I was going around town, when I saw him. He was talking to this woman and her little boy. The kid looked a lot like him. I made my way over and hid, where I could see and hear them but they wouldn't notice me. He kissed the woman just like he did Mother. He picked the little boy up just like he did to all of us. It took me a while but eventually I realized "that woman" that the lady Father was talking to kept mentioning was our Mother. She questioned his love for her and whether she favored this child over Arthur, who apparently is the exact same age as him. Repulsive. And then he said it. He told her that he was leaving us and that he cared nothing for us."

We sat in silence for a little, before leaning towards each other in a little brotherly support group hug.

"I-I gave myself up after she left. I was crying b-but he didn't care. He said to say nothing. You know the rest, he came home, said he couldn't handle another child, and that he couldn't handle any of us and wanted a fresh start. But he made sure it was Arthur's fault. And now that I think about, he didn't care if we forgave you, Arthur. It was just a way to get around the truth. T-that he had been figured out."

We sat there for hours. We didn't speak, we all suffered together. The music had been shut off at some point. I was in shock. Another child. A half brother. My age. Who was he? What if I knew him? No, I didn't know anyone who looked like Father.

I looked around the room. It was mostly bare. Seamus was also looking around, probably remembering all the time he had spent here. Allistor was on his back, his hands covering his eyes. He flopped one arm under the bed.

All of a sudden he sat up, his green eyes holding a strange curiosity. He pulled a small leather bound journal out from under the bed.

"Hey Seamus, what's this?" he smirked.

"I have absolutely no idea," he responded, genuine confusion in his eyes. He took the book from Allistor and opened. He flipped a page, then flipped back. Allistor leaned over his shoulder.

"Alfred F. Jones," he read. I gulped. What? Seamus turned the page.

"Vladimir told me to write this. He told me not to let anyone near it. Especially Arthur.

"You know an Alfred F. Jones, Arthur?"

I gulped.

"Yeah... I do... Let me over there."

I squeezed in between them and we read it together. It went all the way up to a few days ago, when Alfred stopped showing up a school.

I fell backwards, unable to comprehend what had just happened. The future? Alfred, that strange, quirky, idiot was from the future? No, he was a lunatic.

"How did this get here?" asked Seamus.

"When Mother and Allistor went to visit you for I invited him over for a few days. I swear I didn't know he was crazy."

"I don't know Artie, I kind of believe him."

"You WHAT?!" I screamed at Seamus. "You're telling me you find a weird journal from someone you don't know under your bed that says he's from the future and you believe it?"

"Arthur, who would make this up? And besides, he was concerned about you. About what happened with Father. And I mean this is a lot of detail about a future you. Did he say anything that could prove this?"

I thought about it for a second.

"He mumbled under his breath asking Vladimir for something... He kept pulling out a vial of this weird liquid when he thought the I wasn't looking... He said that I was 'always a gentleman'... He disappeared the day he stopped writing in this... I don't know though...He could just be legitimately crazy. And the dream… the drawing from art... "

We stared at each other. Then I remembered something.

"Hetalia Academy... I was a magician... Well, it's the only lead we've got. We have three names, mine, Alfred's, and Vladimir's to start with, plus the other's he mentioned. Also, we need to get that drawing. Time to do some work.

(Le time skip)

We spent hours in the library, gathering information about Hetalia Academy, its students, its requirements, anything we could find.

I was dumbstruck. So this is where I ended up. Alfred's roommate. At this strange school.

And apparently I was a negative idiot who didn't know how to smile. I would've believed that before meeting Alfred. When he was here though... I kept it to myself but I was happier. I couldn't imagine rooming with him and not having the same emotion. I mean, it wasn't like it didn't show when he was here.

I was so confused. I sat with my head in my hands at the table. I felt the presence of Allistor and Seamus on either side of me.

What could I do? I didn't want to live like that. I craved the joy I felt being around the right people. I was going to have to do something, but what?

"You know," Seamus whispered, "you could always just prove him wrong."

"How?" I croaked.

"Learn to cook. Find joy. Be a happy magician. When you meet him at the Academy let him see that his efforts weren't for nothing. Come on, let's go find some cookbooks."

And with that we set off, three brothers on a mission.

It was strange. Under twenty four hours ago I had believed they had both hated me. Now they were helping me fix my future. I felt hope. Hope like no hope I had ever felt before.

We walked off into our imaginary sunset, which happened to be the cooking section of the library.

They were on either side of me as we strode down the aisle. This was going to be good. We were going to do it.

We were going to prove Alfred F. Jones wrong.

Together.


	9. Chapter Nine

Less dramatic chapter because I felt like it lol

Arthur's POV

After our weird as heck brotherly moment in the library we set to work. Mother was gone. We would've all been dead if she wasn't.

But we had the time of our lives.

Teaching me to cook was like teaching a cat to bathe itself. It just didn't work.

The first project we took on was scones. It seemed simple enough. Seamus sat on the counter with a video camera giggling like a teenage girl. Allistor was going to make himself useful. He had found a pastel pink apron, but he actually made it work.

Neither of us really had any clue what we were doing, but we shrugged it off and had blind faith in the directions. Allistor preheated the oven while I gathered ingredients.

I had started mixing ingredients, and while I was measuring the flour he snuck up behind me with another frilly pink apron.

Heck no.

The shock that coursed through me was enough to cause the measuring cup full of flour to go sailing out of my hand through the air. Right into Allistor's face.

"Oh you did not," he laughed, grabbing a handful of flour and smashing it into my hair.

Seamus was dying of laughter across the kitchen, so I launched a spoon at him. It hit him right in the stomach and he doubled over. Setting the camera down, he approached me. I noticed the camera was still recording.

Allistor had snuck up behind him, and right when he was about to pounce on me Allistor dumped a cup of cold water on his head.

I mentally thanked Allistor, but since we were children we played every man for himself. One look at Allistor's face and you could tell that nothing had changed.

He approached me with another glass of water, and right as he went to dump it on me I dove out of the way. The water ended up on the floor.

Meanwhile Seamus had been getting handfuls of flour to hit both of us with. He was dripping water across the floor and the flour stuck to his hands. Frustrated, he dropped the flour, then smacked his hands together. He cackled and regathered the flour, throwing it through the air at me. It ended up in my hair and eyes.

I yelled jokingly and lunged at him, but he dodged and poked me in the back with a spatula.

That's when the fire alarm went off.

We all stopped, staring at the oven. Allistor was closet, and he cautiously opened the door. Smoke rolled out.

"Aw dude there was cheese on the bottom of the oven."

Seamus and I looked at each other. Allistor looked back at us. We all started laughing. The combination of our laughs and the alarm was deafening. I was still laughing when I threw open the window above the sink and grabbed towels. Tossing the other two to Seamus and Allistor, I started fanning the smoke towards the window.

Seamus shut the oven off and he and Allistor started helping me. The smoke was thick, and I could barely see the white tile floor beneath my feet.

Eventually the white countertops and dark cabinets came into view. The alarm was still going off across the kitchen in the hallway. Allistor started to jog over when he slipped and fell. It was his fault for spilling the water. He landed with a "thunk" flat on his face. Seamus went over to help, but lost his balance and also fell, the breathe getting knocked out of Allistor for a second time as Seamus landed on top of him.

"Thanks for mopping up the water!" I sang at them, stepping over their tangled limbs. I grabbed a chair and stepped up. After fiddling around I finally got the alarm to stop shrieking. The smoke had mostly cleared and Seamus had gotten off Allistor, who was slowly pulling himself off the floor.

I snorted when I saw him. His face was beat red and covered in a weird mixture of flour and water. His shirt was partially soaked and he didn't look happy.

Steering him by the shoulders I gave him a shove out of the kitchen.

"We'll clean, come back when you, uh, feel better."

He was scary enough without having to be forced to clean. He nodded and walked off.

It was only a few minutes before he came back. He joined us in the cleaning project.

Of course, we had years worth of messing around to catch up on.

We spent around an hour cleaning up a small mess, but it was much more interesting that way. When we were done we collapsed onto the floor, still laughing and poking fun at each other. We probably stayed there for a half an hour before Mother got home. She took one look at us and walked past.

Her face was priceless.

I remembered the camera. I grabbed it off the camera and ended the recording. I wasn't sure what kind of super battery Seamus had that was keeping it going this whole time, but I was glad he had it. We had to watch this later.

We dragged ourselves upstairs to Allistor's room and sat down. Allistor had a pretty plain room, a bed, a desk, a bookshelf, and a dresser. It lacked personal touches, but that was at first glance. He had a few pictures in strange corners where most people wouldn't look, and you could tell what kind of books he liked by looking at the shelf. The bedspread was gray, nothing surprising there. The walls were white and there was a gray area rug over the dark hardwood.

Allistor sat on the bed, Seamus took the desk chair, and I leaned against the door.

"Well, we didn't get any cooking done," I laughed.

"Next time Mother leaves. We'll get it eventually," Seamus responded lightly.

We sat there for hours. The video had been watched multiple times, and our commentary had become more amusing with every repeat. Allistor and I renamed Seamus "field man" because his entire life seemed to be surrounded by them. He got frustrated with us, but couldn't come back with anything. It didn't matter that Dylan was gone, we were fine.

I silently thanked Alfred.

I didn't know where he was, or what he was doing, but he reunited me with some of the people who were the most important to me. His stupid journal was the reason I was changing my life, fixing it.

Allistor kicked us out at about eleven, saying that he needed sleep. We parted, but not for long.

Things were going to get better, one burnt scone at a time.

(I think my favorite part of this was 'Aw dude there was cheese in the oven' but I have no idea why)


	10. Chapter Ten

I actually barely had to edit this yay lol

Arthur's POV

I wandered through the empty halls. Antonio had insisted we have an after school practice before our performance the next day. Mr. Ackerman was still teaching, and we had all started to assume he was getting a permanent position. Either way, Antonio held nothing sacred and he had spilled the beans about our band to Mr. Ackerman. So he insisted we play at the extremely large festival that our town always participated in. He went so far as to give Antonio an entrance slip the day after they had talked.

So here I was, dragging myself through the dark to our little practice area. As I made my way I saw something that I hadn't stopped to look at ever before. It was just a locker. Nothing more, nothing less. Well, that's what I told myself. But it was Alfred's locker. And it hadn't been touched since he "disappeared." I hadn't told anyone about Alfred being from the future... But I should probably tell Kiku. He was extremely worried. And he was open minded enough to believe it, but quiet enough to keep it to himself. I resolved to put his mind at ease the next day. Also, I needed that drawing Alfred had done.

But right now I was standing in a dark hallway staring at a normal locker.

I looked up at the clock. If I stayed here I would be late. Heck with it. I propped my bag on the ground and started rummaging through it. Along with some other random nonsense, I always kept bobby pins in the smallest zipper compartment. Just in case I wanted to try to tame my hair.

Most people didn't think twice about the part of the lock that functioned with the use of a key. They just put in their combination and went on their way. However, I had tested it on my own locker once, and a bobby pin worked if you wanted to pick a lock. Of course I never used that little trick. I just wanted to know.

Somewhere in the depths of the bag my hand grasped a pin. I quickly bent it a little out of shape and set to work on the lock. In no time the door popped open and the contents of Alfred's old locker were exposed.

It was a mess.

I dug around for a little, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Then I found the note.

HI Alfred!

It's me, Vladimir. I forgot to mention that I can still help you from where I am. When you sleep I can somehow give you stuff. I can't explain exactly how, and even if I could you wouldn't understand. There isn't a way for you to respond, but I can kind of see what you're doing. If you look at the bottom of your locker you'll find a small journal. I recommend you write everything down at the end of every day. Maybe you'll feel less crazy that way. Be careful, everything you do there will affect Arthur. I'll keep an eye on him for you. I wish you the best of luck.

\- Vladimir

I stared in shock at the tiny handwriting. This was going back to Seamus, Allistor, and the journal, which I was turning into a scrapbook of anything that related back to Alfred. Quickly checking my watch, I saw that I had been here for a long while. I slammed Alfred's locker shut, and turned to run to get to practice when I saw a paper on the floor. It had fallen out of Alfred's locker so I grabbed it and put it with the vials and the letter.

When I got to practice I was panting and my brain was screaming. I didn't want to play my bass. I wanted to sit in a corner and reread the note and Alfred's journal and look at the other paper that had fallen out of Alfred's locker.

I dropped my bag on the floor of the room while Antonio, Gilbert, and Basch stared at me. I ran to my bass, only to see that Gilbert had put his guitar down and made his way to my backpack. The container had spilled out of the unzipped section.

"Don't touch that!" I yelled, but it was too late.

Gilbert had unfolded one of the papers.

"I didn't know that you were and artist."

"I'm not an-" I started, but my brain kicked into gear. "Oh." I walked over and peeped over Gilbert's shoulder.

It was the drawing Alfred had been working on for his art one that contained Allistor, my Father, a look alike of my father, and myself. A small sarcastic voice in the back of my mind cheered because hey, even though your bandmates have found out about your strange friend from the future who they all knew and bonded with, I had gotten the picture. That drawing gave me nightmares, not nightmares like the ones Alfred had to endure, but I still didn't want to go to sleep for a few nights. Now here was the physical thing.

It was beautifully drawn, but it was so eerie I couldn't stand to look at it for long. I walked away and shoved it into my backpack, then picked up my bass and started playing. I could hear Gilbert talking to Basch and Antonio, but I ignored them. Until Gilbert came and took the bass right out of my hands.

"Arthur why do you have a drawing that belongs to Alfred in with another piece of paper in your backpack?" Basch questioned.

I gulped. "Because I have to give them back to him," I lied.

"He's been missing for quite a while. Why do you still carry them around?"

"Why do you keep questioning me on what I'm doing? Aren't we here for practice?"

Every note we played was half hearted. Gilbert, Antonio, and even Basch, were glancing over at me then going off into their own heads. As for me, I couldn't focus either. There was an ache in my chest, I had felt this before but I couldn't remember when or why. All I knew was that it was tearing me apart from the inside out. I flew out of the room as fast as I could. Sprinting down the hallway I felt tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I didn't cry often, and there was no explanation as to why I was now. I could feel it, Alfred suffered because of me. He suffered trying to come back and help me. He suffered when he was in the future because of who I was. But he was still there. Whenever I met him, he never left my side after that. And what had I done to repay him? Made him suffer even more. I wasn't sure in what way he was suffering, but I knew he was. I could feel it.

By now I was almost home, and I had more determination than I had in awhile. I would be everything the future me wasn't. Right now I felt like I wasn't in my body. I felt like I could see my whole life, and Alfred's as well. Wherever Alfred was, I hoped he heard me. I hoped that this second would send ripples through the lives of anyone I had hurt. "Alfred," I called. "I've changed. I can tell. I see the future me thinking of the past you, and my past self looking at the future me."


End file.
